Plot to oust Hwange gaffer exposed

By Sikhumbuzo Moyo

HWANGE – A group of former Hwange Football Club players are reportedly planning to stage a swift and dramatic coup that will see head coach Nation Dube ousted from his post.

The masterminds of the coup are allegedly calling for someone born and bred in Hwange, popularly known as “mubhoni”, to coach the coalminers, who have had a shaky start to the Premiership season.

“Things aren’t going well my friend, we’ve our former teammates who want to determine how Hwange FC is run and who coaches it and at the moment, some are calling for a 79 (Hwange district) to coach the club as they argue that Nato (Nation) isn’t originally from here but is from Gwanda,” said the source, a former player himself.

He said it was sad that when Dube was playing alongside them and scoring crucial goals, his origins were not an issue.

Dube, the longest serving premiership coach having joined Chipangano in 2004 as a player coach before assuming the reins in 2008, is being labelled a “foreigner” as he came from Gwanda Ramblers in Matabeleland South.

A holder of a Caf A coaching badge, Dube played for Hwange for 14 years, from 1991 until retirement in 2005 and most of those calling for his ouster are his former teammates.

Contacted for comment, the soft spoken Young Warriors assistant coach said coaching Hwange was not a permanent job and his employers, Hwange Colliery Company, had the pleasure of appointing and disappointing.

“I will obviously go one day but that’s the prerogative of the employer. I wouldn’t want to talk about the alleged plot to get me fired or removed,” said Dube.

Hwange earlier this week suspended assistant coach Mebelo Njekwa for alleged insubordination after he refused to dump his national team duties and return to Hwange to take charge of the team’s league match against Buffaloes.

Njekwa was appointed recently after then assistant coach Brian Njobvu was relegated to the juniors following a 5-2 opening day mauling by Triangle. The Chronicle